Harold f



(No Model V a LAST TOE THIGKE I No. 540,897. Patented M11, 1895.-

UNTTE STATES ATENT Fries.

HAROLD F. BLAKE, OF HAVEBHILL, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO ELMER S.HARRIS, OF SAME PLACE.

LAST TOE-THICKEN ER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 540,897, dated. June11, 1895. Application filed NovemherZd, 1893. Serial No. 491,961. (Nomodel.)

To all 21077107711 21 may concern.-

Be it known that I, HAROLD F. BLAKE, of Haverhill, in the county ofEssex and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements inMethods of Lasting Shoes, of which the following is aspecification.

This invention relates to a new and i'mproved toe thickener for lastsand consists in 1'0 the novel features of construction and relativearrangement of parts hereinafter fully described in the specification,clearly illustratedjn the drawings, and particularlypointed out in theclaim. :5 Reference is to be had to the accompanying sheet of-drawings,forming a part of this specification, in which like characters indicatelike parts wherever they occur.

Figure 1 shows a longitudinal section of a portion of the last having myimproved thickener applied to the bottom of the toe portion of the last.Fig. 2 represents a cross-section on line 2 2 of Fig. 1. Fig. 3sh owsaperspcctive view of the thickener detached. Fig. 4 is a longitudinalsection of a last, showing thethickener applied to the top of the toepart of the last.

In lasting a boot. or shoe, the too has to be lasted over stronglybefore the sides of the uppers are lasted, so that the finished shoewill be smooth and regular, and the great strain to which a patentleather tip or vamp is subjected in the lasting process often causescracking of the same after it has been on the last for a considerablespace of time. As is well known, it is customaryin boot and shoemanufacture to leave a boot or shoe on a last after it has been lasted,for a considerable time, say for a day or more, so as to allow it tobecome permanently set. Experience teaches that it is not in the firstlasting of the shoe that the patent leather tip cracks, but the crackingusually occurs after the shoe has been on thelast a while. It may be dueto the giving way of the composition applied to the leather of the tipafter continued strain, or to atmospheric changes. I have discovered,

however, that if a less thickness of last is in .the toe of the shoewhile the shoe sets than is present when the s'hoeislasted, the tip willnot crack.

My invention may be said to consist in means for primarily lasting theupper and forming the toe of the shoe over a last of standard sizeexcepting at the toe, which is abnormally thickened, and re-lasting on alast of the same size having a toe portion of normal thickness, andallowing the toe to set over the reduced thickness of last.

Referring first to Figs. 1, 2, and 3, the letter a designates the lastproper, and b designates a thickener adapted to be applied to the bottom of the toe portion of the lastand retained thereon by meansof a thinflange 1) formed on the thickener and engaging the sides of the lastwith sufficient pressure to prevent the thickener from falling off. Thisthickener may be made of leather, wood, metal or any other suitablematerial, and is tapered so as to avoid a shoulder between it and thelast. 7c

Fig. tshows a thickener h adapted to be applied on top of the toe of thelast, being formed with a flange h to retain it in place on the last. Inemploying either construction, the thickener is applied to the last andto the toe lasted over the thickened last. Then the last is taken out ofthe shoe, the thickener is removed, the last reinserted, and the toeleft on the reduced last to become permanently set.

By my invention, cracking of patent leather tips in the course of themaking of boots and shoes is obviated.

Having thus explained the nature of my invention and described a way ofconstructing 8 and using the same, though without attempting to setforth all of the forms in which it may be made or all of themodes of itsuse, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is go A lasttoe-thickener comprising in its construction a cap provided with flangesat one end and both sides, the top of said cap being wedge-shaped inlongitudinal section with the edge part thereof at the open end of said5 cap, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification,in thepresence of 7 two subscribing witnesses, this 15th day of November, A.D. 1893.

HAROLD F. BLAKE.

' Witnesses:

